Control of the Humanitarian Aid and the Conflict over the Wells
Parashat Hashavua - Shabbat Toldot – 5785
Rabbi Eliezer Haim Shenvald
In memory of Yona Betzalel Brief HY”D (son of Hazel and David Brief) who was injured on October 7th in Kfar Aza and passed away this week.
Praying for the IDF soldiers' success, to safeguard them lest any harm come to them, to the healing of all the wounded and the return of the abducted.
The Israeli government defined and set three goals for the war in Gaza and announced this from the beginning: the elimination of Hamas’ military infrastructure, removing its control in the Gaza Strip, and the creation of conditions for the return of the kidnapped. More than a year has passed since the war started. Although unprecedented achievements were accomplished in each of the three defined goals, the work is still incomplete, and the goals have not been fully reached. One of the obstacles is Hamas’s continued control over the humanitarian response. As long as Hamas takes sole control of the humanitarian convoys and is the one distributing the food to the population, it is the sovereign and de facto ruler of the population in Gaza, and its status is maintained.
In Arab culture, there are several proverbs according to which the one who distributes the food is the one in control:
يلي ياكل من خبز السلطان يضرب بسيفه
"Whoever eats from the Sultan's bread strikes with his sword”, that is, fights for him - if you eat from his food, you do what he says and obey. Or:
يلي ياكل لقمتي يسمع كلمتي
"Whoever eats my food listens to my words”.
(Thanks to a friend who is an expert in Arabic for referring me to the source.)
Hamas controls products to strengthen its position and to replenish its ranks with fighters from among the population. Even if there are those among the population who are fed up with Hamas rule, they cannot do anything because it rules over them with severe violence.
The Prime Minister recently called on those holding the hostages to release them, and in return they will receive for each hostage five million dollars, as well as freedom of passage for the purpose of exile to a third country. This is a considerable sum, certainly for the Gaza residents, but it is almost certain that as long as Hamas controls the territory and the population is not convinced that its rule will cease to exist in the future, no one will risk the lives of their families and cooperate with this call, even for this amount of money.
The solution that has been sought for a long time is the creation of the right mechanism that will transfer control of the humanitarian aid to Israel through the IDF. Control over the distribution of food, despite it being an enemy population, is key to a set of strategic goals. The wisest of all men said:
אִם רָעֵב שֹׂנַאֲךָ הַאֲכִלֵהוּ לָחֶם וְאִם צָמֵא הַשְׁקֵהוּ מָיִם כִּי גֶחָלִים אַתָּה חֹתֶה עַל רֹאשׁוֹ...
"If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap coals of fire on his head…” (Proverbs 25:21-22)
ופירוש זה, שכאשר שונא שלך הוא מקבל ממך, וזה כאשר אתה נותן לו לחם, והוא חפץ לקבל ממך, ובדבר זה הוא נמסר לידך, שהוא מקבל. שכל אשר מקבל מאחר, בזה הוא נמסר בידו, והוא תחת רשותו
"And this means that when your enemy receives from you, when you give him bread, he desires to receive from you, and in this matter, he owes you, because he receives. Every person that receives from another is given over into his hand and is under his control" (Maharal 'Ohr Chadash').
Although there are sectors who object to this for various reasons, if it does not happen, it is difficult to see how the goals of the war in Gaza will be achieved in the foreseeable future.
In our Parasha (Bereshit 26:15-33) we read about the conflict between Yitzhak and Abimelech over the digging of water wells and the calling of their names. In those days, one of their main sources of livelihood were their flocks, for which they needed pasture and large quantities of water. In the desert area of the Negev, water is a strategic resource. Yitzhak's servants had a special skill in locating underground water sources and digging wells to reach them. However, the Philistines claimed that the area belonged to them and therefore this resource, which was found in that land, was theirs (Rabbi Samson Rephael Hirsch ibid).
The Ramban raises the question of why was the story of the wells’ conflict even mentioned? And he does not find an explanation in the Peshat (literal meaning of the text):
ואין בפשוטי הסיפור תועלת ולא כבוד גדול ליצחק, והוא ואביו עשו אותם בשוה. אבל יש בדבר ענין נסתר בתוכו...
"Scripture gives a lengthy account of the matter of the wells when in the literal interpretation of the story there would seem to be no benefit nor any great honor to Yitzhak in that he and his father did the identical thing. However, there is a hidden matter involved here…” (Ramban Pasuk 20)
In contrast, Abarbanel explained that there is a great need to mention this passage and that it contains a strategic principle, for generations. The struggle over water sources and pastures and the naming of wells is not only a struggle over a vital resource but over control and sovereignty over the territory, because whoever controls the water sources and sources of livelihood has sovereignty over the territory:
ולדעתי יש כבוד גדול ליצחק ולכן יכתב פה. ולפי שכל הדברים עשה יצחק בגודל לבב כאלו הוא היה אדון הארץ ולכן בבואו בבאר שבע נראה אליו השם והבטיחו אנכי אלהי אברהם אביך אל תירא. רוצה לומר אני שנתתי לאברה׳ אביך כח לנצח את המלכים ואני הנותן לך כח לעשות חיל ולכן לא תירא מאנשי גרר ולא מענין ה. בארות שעשית כי אתך אנכי בכל אשר תעשה.
“But in my opinion, there is great glory to Yitzhak [in this story], and that is why it is written here. And since Yitzhak did all of these things with a bold heart - as if he was the master of the land - hence in his coming to Beersheba, the Lord appeared to him and promised him, "I am the Lord of Abraham, your father, do not fear." [This] means to say, "I am the One who gave Abraham your father the power to defeat the kings, and I am the One who gave you the power to act with strength; hence do not fear the men of Gerar, nor about the matter of the wells that you made - as I am with you in all that you do"... (Abarbanel, ibid., in the answer to the fifth question).